Robert F. Kennedy Death Of Jfk Content Vintage Original 1966 Typed Letter Signed

ROBERT F. KENNEDY DEATH OF JFK CONTENT VINTAGE ORIGINAL 1966 TYPED LETTER SIGNED

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DESCRIPTION:RARE & UNUSUAL! Democratic senator and civil rights activistROBERT F. KENNEDY signed typewritten letter on his personal United States Senate letterhead stationery written to Mr. Evan Thomas of Harper & Row Publishers. The warmly written one page letter, dated July 28, 1966, contains excellent and poignant commentary on the death of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. It reads: "Dear Evan: While I have not read William Manchester's account of the death of President Kennedy, I know of the President's respect for Mr. Manchester as an historian and reporter. I understand others have plans to publish books regarding the events of November 22, 1963. As this is going to be the subject matter of a book and since Mr. Manchester in his research had access to more information and sources than any other writer, members of the Kennedy family will place no obstacle in the way of publication of his work. However, if Mr. Manchester's account is published in segments or excerpts, I would expect that incidents would not be taken out of context or summarized in any way which might distort the facts of, or the events relating to President Kennedy's death. Sincerely, Robert F. Kennedy." Signed in black ink fountain pen.

The signature is dark, and prominent with excellent contrast.

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- SIZE: approx. 8" X 10 1/2"

- CONDITION:Very Good, with horizontal folds from mailing, faint creases at the upper left corner, and handling. (Please note that I am extremely condition conscious so I always point out the slightest anomalies)

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Robert Francis
"Bobby" Kennedy(November 20, 1925 — June 6,
1968), also referred to by his initialsRFK, was an American
politician,
New York, and a notedcivil-rightsactivist. An icon ofmodern American liberalismand a member
of theKennedy
family, he was a younger brother of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, and he
served as the president's chief adviser during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964 he served as theU.S.
Attorney General.

Following his
brotherJohn's assassination, on November 22, 1963, Kennedy continued
to serve as the Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnsonfor
nine months. There had long been bad blood between them, so in September 1964
Kennedy resigned to seek a U.S. Senate seat from New York, which he won in
November. Within a few years he publicly split with Johnson over theVietnam War.

In March1968Kennedy began a campaign for the
presidency and was a front-running candidate of theDemocratic Party, appealing especially
to black, Hispanic and Catholic voters. In the California presidential primary,
on June 4, Kennedy defeatedEugene McCarthy, the hero
of the New Left and student elements in the Democratic Party. That night
Kennedy wasshotbySirhan Sirhan, aPalestinian
Arab.[1]Mortally
wounded, he survived nearly 26 hours, then died early in the morning of June 6.

In September 1927,
theKennedy
familymoved toRiverdale,
New York, a neighborhood in theBronx, then two years later, moved 5 miles
(8.0km) northeast toBronxville,
New York. Bobby spent summers with his family at their home inHyannis
Port, Massachusetts, and Christmas and Easter holidays with his
family at their winter home inPalm
Beach, Florida, purchased in 1933. He attended public elementary
school in Riverdale from kindergarten through second grade; thenBronxville School, the public school in
Bronxville, from third through fifth grade, repeating the third grade;[3]thenRiverdale
Country School, a private school for boys in Riverdale, for sixth
grade.

In March 1938,
when he was 12, Bobby sailed with his mother and his four youngest siblings to
England, where his father had begun serving as ambassador. He attended the
private Gibbs School for Boys in London for seventh grade, returning to the
U.S. just before the outbreak of war in 1939.

In September 1939,
for eighth grade, Bobby attendedSt. Paul's School, an elite privatepreparatoryschool for boys inConcord,
New Hampshire.[4]However, he
transferred after two months at St. Paul's toPortsmouth
Priory School, aBenedictineboarding
school for boys inPortsmouth,
Rhode Island, for eighth through tenth grades.[5]In September
1942, Kennedy transferred toMilton Academy, a third
boarding school inMilton,
Massachusetts, for eleventh and twelfth grades.[6]

Six weeks before
his eighteenth birthday, Bobby enlisted in theU.S. Naval Reserveas anapprentice seaman,[7]released
from active duty until March 1944 when he left Milton Academy early to report
to theV-12 Navy College Training ProgramatHarvard Collegein Cambridge,
Massachusetts. His V-12 training was at Harvard (March–November
1944);Bates
CollegeinLewiston, Maine(November
1944 – June 1945); and Harvard (June 1945 – January 1946). On December 15,
1945, theU.S.
Navycommissioned thedestroyerUSS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., and shortly
thereafter granted Kennedy's request to be released from naval-officer training
to serve starting on February 1, 1946, as an apprentice seaman on the ship'sshakedown cruisein
theCaribbean.[8][9]On May 30,
1946, he received his honorable
dischargefrom the Navy.[10]

In September 1946,
Kennedy entered Harvard as a junior, having received credit for his time in the
V-12 program.[11]Kennedy
worked hard to make the as anend,
was astarterand
scored atouchdownin the first
game of his senior year before breaking his leg in practice,[11]earning hisvarsity letterwhen
his coach sent him in for the last minutes of a game againstYale, wearing a cast.[12]Kennedy
graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree ingovernmentin March
1948[13]and
immediately sailed off onRMSQueen Marywith
a college friend for a six-month tour of Europe and the Middle East, accredited
as a correspondent of the Boston Post,
for which he filed six stories.[14]Four of
these stories, filed fromPalestineshortly
before the end of theBritish Mandate, provided a first-hand view of the tensions.[14]He was
critical of the British policy in Palestine. Further, he praised the Jewish
people he met there "as hardy and tough". Kennedy held out some hope
after seeing Arabs and Jews working side by side but, in the end felt the
"hate" in Palestine was too strong and would lead to a war.[15]

In September 1948,
Kennedy enrolled at theUniversity of Virginia School of June 17,
1950, Kennedy marriedEthel
Skakelat St. Mary's Catholic Church inGreenwich,
Connecticut. Kennedy graduated from law school in June 1951 and flew
with Ethel to Greenwich to stay in his father-in-law's guest house. Kennedy's
first child,Kathleen,
was born on July 4, 1951,[17]and Kennedy
spent the summer studying for the Massachusettsbar exam.[18]

In September 1951,
Kennedy went to San Francisco as a correspondent of theBoston Postto
cover the convention concluding theTreaty
of Peace with Japan.[19]In October
1951, Kennedy embarked on a seven-week Asian trip with his brother John (then Massachusetts 11th districtcongressman) and his sisterPatriciato
Israel, India, Vietnam, and Japan.[20]Because of
their age gap, the two brothers had previously seen little of each other. This
25,000-mile (40,000km) trip was the first extended time they had spent
together and served to deepen their relationship.

In November 1951,
Kennedy moved with his wife and daughter to a townhouse inGeorgetownin Washington, D.C., and started work as a
lawyer in the Internal Security Section (which investigated suspected Soviet
agents) of theCriminal Divisionof
theU.S. Department of Justice.[21]In February
1952, he was transferred to theEastern District of New YorkinBrooklynto prosecute
fraud cases. On June 6, 1952, Kennedy resigned to manage his brother John's
successful1952 U.S. Senate

In December 1952,
at the behest of his father, he was appointed McCarthyas
assistant counsel of theU.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations.[23]He resigned
in July 1953, but "retained
a fondness for McCarthy."[24]After a
period as an assistant to his father on theHoover Commission, Kennedy
rejoined the Senate committee staff as chief counsel for the Democratic
minority in February 1954.[25]When the
Democrats gained the majority in January 1955, he became chief counsel. Kennedy
was a background figure in the televisedMcCarthy
Hearingsof 1954 into the conduct of McCarthy.[26]

Kennedy worked as
an aide toAdlai
Stevenson IIduring the1956 presidential electionto learn for a
future national campaign by John. The candidate did not impress Kennedy,
however, and he voted for incumbentDwight
D.
soon made a name for himself as the chief counsel of the 1957–59Senate Labor Rackets Committeeunder
chairmanJohn
L. McClellan. In a dramatic scene, Kennedy squared off withTeamstersunion
PresidentJimmy Hoffaduring
the antagonistic argument that marked Hoffa's testimony.[28]Kennedy left the
Rackets Committee in late 1959 in order to run his brother John's successful
presidential campaign.

In 1960, he
published the bookThe Enemy Within, describing the corrupt
practices within the Teamsters and other unions that he had helped investigate;
the book sold very well.

John F. Kennedy's
choice of Robert Kennedy as Attorney General following his election victory in
1960 was controversial, withThe
New York TimesandThe New Republiccalling
him inexperienced and unqualified.[29]He had no
experience in any state or federal court,[29]causing the
President to joke, "I can't see that it's wrong to give him a little legal
experience before he goes out to practice law."[30]Kennedy did have
significant experience in studying organized crime. After performing well in
the Senate hearing he easily won confirmation in January 1961. Kennedy chose
what Schlesinger calls an "outstanding" group of deputy and assistant
attorneys general, includingByron WhiteandNicholas
Katzenbach.[29]

Hilty concludes
that Bobby "played an unusual combination of roles—campaign director,
attorney general, executive overseer, controller of patronage, chief adviser,
and brother protector" and that nobody before him had such power.[31]His tenure
as Attorney General was easily the period of greatest power for the office; no
previous United States Attorney General had enjoyed such clear influence on all
areas of policy during an administration. To a great extent, President Kennedy
sought the advice and counsel of his younger brother, resulting in Robert
Kennedy remaining the President's closest political adviser. Kennedy was relied
upon as both the President's primary source of administrative information and
as a general counsel with whom trust was implicit, given the familial ties of
the two men. He exercised widespread authority over every cabinet department,
leading the Associated Press to dub him, "Bobby--Washington's No. 2
man."[32]The
president once remarked about his brother that, "If I want something done
and done immediately I rely on the Attorney General. He is very much the doer
in this administration, and has an organizational gift I have rarely if ever
seen surpassed."[33]

As one of
President Kennedy's closest White House advisers, RFK played a crucial role in
the events surrounding theBerlin
Crisis of 1961.[34]Operating
mainly through a private backchannel connection to Soviet spyGeorgi Bolshakov, RFK
relayed important diplomatic communications between the US and Soviet
governments.[35]Most
significantly, this connection helped the US set up the Vienna Summit in June
1961 and later defuse the tank standoff with the Soviets at Berlin'sCheckpoint
Charliein October.[36]

Kennedy was
relentless in his pursuit ofTeamstersunion
PresidentJimmy Hoffa,
resulting from widespread knowledge of Hoffa's corruption in financial and
electoral actions, both personally and organizationally.[38]The enmity
between the two men was intense, with accusations of a personal vendetta being
exchanged between the two; in what Hoffa called a "blood feud"
between him and Kennedy.[39]In 1964
Hoffa was imprisoned for jury tampering.[40]

Kennedy expressed
the administration's commitment to civil rights during a 1961 speech at theUniversity of Georgia Law School:

In 1963,FBI DirectorJ. Edgar Hoover, who viewed
civil-rights leaderMartin
Luther King, Jr.as an upstart troublemaker[42]calling him
an "enemy of the state",[43]presented
Kennedy with allegations that some of King's close confidants and advisers
that the allegations, if made public, would derail the Administration's civil
rights initiatives, Kennedy warned King to discontinue the suspect
associations, and later felt compelled to issue a written directive authorizing
the FBI to wiretap King and other leaders of theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference,
King's civil rights organization.[45]Although
Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones
"on a trial basis, for a month or so",[46]Hoover
extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for
evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.[47]The wire
tapping continued through June 1966 and was revealed in 1968, days before
Kennedy's death.[48]

Kennedy remained
committed to civil rights enforcement to such a degree that he commented, in
1962, that it seemed to envelop almost every area of his public and private
life—from prosecuting corrupt southern electoral officials to answering late
night calls fromCoretta
Scott Kingconcerning the imprisonment of her husband for
demonstrations in Alabama. During his tenure as Attorney General, he undertook
the most energetic and persistent desegregation of the administration that
Capitol Hill had ever experienced. He demanded that every area of government
begin recruiting realistic levels of black and other ethnic workers, going so
far as to criticize Vice PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonfor
his failure to desegregate his own office staff.

Although it has
become commonplace to assert the phrase "The Kennedy Administration" or even "President
Kennedy" when discussing the legislative and executive support of the
civil rights movement, between 1960 and 1963, a great many of the initiatives
that occurred during President Kennedy's tenure were as a result of the passion
and determination of an emboldened Robert Kennedy, who through his rapid
education in the realities of Southern racism, underwent a thorough conversion
of purpose as Attorney General. Asked in an interview in May 1962, "What
do you see as the big problem ahead for you, is it Crime or Internal
Security?" Robert Kennedy replied, "Civil Rights."[49]The
President came to share his brother's sense of urgency on the matters at hand
to such an extent that it was at the Attorney General's insistence that he made
his famous address to the nation.[29]

Bobby played a
large role in the Freedom Riders protests. Kennedy acted after the Anniston bus
bombings to protect the Riders in continuing their journey. Kennedy sent John
Seigenthaler, his administrative assistant, to Alabama to attempt to secure the
riders' safety there. Despite a work rule which allowed a driver to decline an
assignment which he regarded as a potentially unsafe one, Kennedy also
persuaded a manager ofThe
Greyhound Corporationto obtain a coach operator who was
willing to drive a special bus for the continuance of the Freedom Ride from
Birmingham, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, on the circuitous journey to
Jackson, Mississippi.[50]Later,
during the attack and burning by a white mob of the First Baptist Church in
Montgomery, at which Martin Luther King Jr. and some 1,500 sympathizers were in
attendance, the Attorney General telephoned King to ask his assurance that they
would not leave the building until the force ofU.S. MarshalsandNational Guardhe sent had secured the
area. King proceeded to berate Kennedy for "allowing the situation to
continue". King later publicly thanked Robert Kennedy for his commanding
of the force dispatched to break up an attack that might otherwise have ended
King's life.[29][51]

Kennedy then
negotiated the safe passage of the Freedom Riders from the First Baptist Church
to Jackson Mississippi, where they were arrested.[52]He offered
to bail the Freedom Riders out of jail, but they refused. This upset Kennedy,
who went as far to call any bandwagoners of the original freedom rides
"honkers".

Kennedy's attempts
to end the Freedom Rides early were in many ways tied to an upcoming summit
with Khrushchev and De Gaulle, believing the continued international publicity
of race riots would tarnish the President heading into international
negotiations.[53]This
reluctance to protect and advance the Freedom Rides alienated many of the Civil
Rights leaders at the time who perceived him as intolerant and narrow minded.[54]

In September 1962,
he sent U.S. Marshals toOxford,
Mississippi, to enforce a federal court order allowing the
admittance of the first African American student,James Meredith, to theUniversity
of Mississippi. Kennedy had hoped that legal means, along with the
escort of U.S. Marshals, would be enough to force GovernorRoss Barnettto allow
the school admission. He also was very concerned there might be a
"mini-civil war" between the U.S. Army troops and armed protesters.[55]President
John F. Kennedy reluctantly sent federal troops after the situation on campus
turned
the period of Meredith's admittance resulted in hundreds of injuries and two
deaths. Yet Kennedy remained adamant concerning the rights of black students to
enjoy the benefits of all levels of the educational system. The Office of Civil
Rights also hired its first African-American lawyer and began to work
cautiously with leaders of thecivil rights movement. Robert Kennedy saw
voting as the key to racial justice, and collaborated with Presidents Kennedy
and Johnson to create the landmarkCivil
Rights Act of 1964, which helped bring an end toJim Crow laws.

He was to maintain
his commitment to racial equality into his own presidential campaign, extending
his firm sense of social justice to all areas of national life and into matters
of foreign and economic policy. During a speech atBall
State UniversityinMuncie, Indianaon
April 4, 1968, Kennedy questioned the student body on what kind of life America
wished for herself; whether privileged Americans had earned the great luxury
they enjoyed and whether such Americans had an obligation to those, in U.S.
society and across the world, who had so little by comparison. It has been
argued that although this speech has been largely overlooked and ignored,
because of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., it was one of most
powerful and heartfelt speeches Kennedy delivered.[57]

After the
assassination of his brother Jack, Robert Kennedy undertook a 1966 tour of
South Africa in which he championed the cause of the anti-apartheidmovement.
The tour was greeted with international praise at a time when few politicians
dared to entangle themselves in the politics of South Africa. Kennedy spoke out
against the oppression of the native population and was welcomed by the black
population as though a visiting head of state. In an interview withLook
Magazinehe had this to say:

In South Africa, a
group of foreign press representatives chartered an aircraft, after theNational Union of South African Studentsfailed
to make sufficient travel arrangements. Kennedy not only accommodated a
suspectedSpecial
Branchpoliceman on board, but took with good grace the
discovery that the aircraft had once belonged toFidel Castro.[59]

Kennedy also used
the power of federal agencies to influenceU.S. Steelnot to
institute a price increase.[60]The
Wall Street Journalwrote that the administration had set
prices of steel "by naked power, by threats, by agents of the state
security police."[61]Yale law
professorCharles
Reichwrote inThe New Republicthat the
Justice Department had violated civil libertiesby
calling a federal grand jury to indict U.S. Steel so quickly, then disbanding
it after the price increase did not occur.[61]

During the John F.
Kennedy administration, thefederal governmentcarried out its last
pre-Furmanfederal
execution (Victor
FeguerinIowa,
1963)[62]and Robert
Kennedy, as Attorney General, represented the Government in this case.[63]

In 1968, Kennedy
expressed his strong willingness to support a bill then under consideration for
the abolition of the death penalty.[64]

As his brother's
confidant, Kennedy oversaw the CIA's anti-Castroactivities
after the failedBay
of Pigs invasion. He also helped develop the strategy to blockade
Cuba during theCuban
Missile Crisisinstead of initiating a military strike that
might have led to nuclear war. Kennedy had initially been among the more
hawkish elements of the administration on matters concerning Cuban insurrectionary
aid. His initial strong support for covert actions in Cuba soon changed to a
position of removal from further involvement once he became aware of the CIA's
tendency to draw out initiatives and provide itself with almost unchecked
authority in matters of foreign covert operations.

Allegations that
the Kennedys knew of plans by the CIA to killFidel Castro, or approved
of such plans, have been debated by historians over the years. John F.
Kennedy's friend and associate, historianArthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., for example, expressed the
opinion that operatives linked to the CIA were among the most reckless
individuals to have operated during the period—providing themselves with
unscrutinized freedoms to threaten the lives of Castro and other members of the
Cuban revolutionary government regardless of the legislative apparatus in
Washington—freedoms that, unbeknownst to those at the White House attempting to
prevent a nuclear war, placed the entire U.S.–Soviet relationship in perilous
danger.

The "Family Jewels" documents, declassified by
the CIA in 2007, suggest that before the Bay of Pigs invasion Robert Kennedy
personally authorized one such assassination attempt.[65][66]However,
ample evidence exists disputing that fact, specifically that Robert Kennedy was
only informed of an earlier plot involving CIA's use ofMafiabossesSanto
Trafficante, Jr.andJohn Roselliduring a
briefing on May 7, 1962, and in fact directed the CIA to halt any existing
efforts directed at Castro's assassination.[67]Concurrently,
Kennedy served as his brother's personal representative inOperation
Mongoose, the post-Bay of Pigs covert operations program established
in November 1961 by President Kennedy. Mongoose was meant to incite a
revolution within Cuba that would result in the downfall of Castro, not
Castro's assassination.

During the Cuban
Missile Crisis Kennedy proved himself to be a gifted politician, with an
ability to obtain compromises tempering aggressive positions of key figures in
the hawk camp. The trust the President placed in him on matters of negotiation
was such that Robert Kennedy's role in the crisis is today seen as having been
of vital importance in securing a blockade, which averted a full military
engagement between the United States and Soviet Russia. His clandestine
meetings with members of the Soviet government continued to provide a key link
toNikita
Khrushchevduring even the darkest moments of the Crisis, in
which the threat of nuclear strikes was considered a very present reality.[68]

On the last night
of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy was so grateful for his
brother's work in averting nuclear war that he summed it up by saying,
"Thank God for Bobby".[69]

Theassassination of President Kennedyon November 22, 1963,
was a brutal shock to the world, the nation and, of course, Robert and the rest
of the Kennedy family. Robert was absolutely devastated, and was described by
many as being a completely different man after his brother's death.

In the days
following the assassination, Kennedy wrote letters to his two eldest children,
Kathleen and Joe, saying that as the oldest Kennedy family members of their
generation, they had a special responsibility to remember what their uncle had
started and to love and serve their country.[70][71]

Kennedy was asked
byDemocratic Partyleaders to introduce a film about his
late brother John F. Kennedy atthe 1964 party convention. When he was
introduced, the crowd—including party bosses, elected officials and
delegates—applauded thunderously and tearfully for a full 22 minutes before
they would let him speak.[72]He was
close to breaking down before he spoke about his brother's vision for both the
party and the nation, and recited a quote from Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet(3.2)
that Jacqueline Kennedy had given him:

“

[...] and when [he] shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Nine months after
President John F. Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy left the Cabinet to
run for a seat in theU.S.
Senate, representing New York.

President Johnson
and Bobby were often at severe odds with each other, both politically and
personally, yet Johnson gave considerable support to Bobby's campaign, as he
was later to recall in his memoir of theWhite Houseyears.

His opponent in
the1964 Keating, who
attempted to portray Kennedy as an arrogant carpetbagger. Kennedy
emerged victorious in the November election, helped in part by Johnson's huge
victory margin in New York. During the campaign he visited the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, RabbiMenachem Mendel Schneerson, seeking his blessing and
endorsement.[73]

In 1965 Bobby
became the first person to summitMount Kennedy.[37]At the time
it was the highest mountain in Canada that had not yet been climbed. It was
named in honor of his brother Jack after his assassination.

In June 1966,
Kennedy visitedapartheid-ruled South Africaaccompanied
by his wife,Ethel
Kennedy, and a small number of aides. At theUniversity
of Cape Townhedelivered
the Annual Day of Affirmation speech. A quote from this address
appears on his memorial atArlington National Cemetery. ("Each time a man stands up
for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against
injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope....")[74]

During his years
as a senator, Kennedy also helped to start a successful redevelopment project
in Brooklynin New York City, visited
theMississippi
Deltaas a member of the Senate committee reviewing the
effectiveness of 'War on Poverty' programs and, reversing his prior stance, called
for a halt in further escalation of theVietnam War.

As Senator,
Kennedy endeared himself to African Americans, and other minorities such as
Native Americans and immigrant groups. He spoke forcefully in favor of what he
called the "disaffected," the impoverished, and "the
excluded," thereby aligning himself with leaders of the civil rights
struggle and social justice campaigners, leading the Democratic party in a
pursuit of a more aggressive agenda to eliminate perceived discrimination on
all levels. Kennedy supporteddesegregation
busing, integration of all public facilities, theVoting
Rights Act of 1965and anti-poverty social programs to increase
education, offer opportunities for employment, and provide health care for
African-Americans.

The administration
of President Kennedy had backed U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia and other
parts of the world in the frame of the Cold War. While Robert Kennedy
vigorously supported President Kennedy's earlier efforts, like his brother he
never publicly advocated commitment of ground troops. Senator Kennedy had
cautioned President Johnson against commitment of U.S. ground troops as early
as 1965, but Lyndon Johnson chose to commit ground troops on recommendation of
the rest of President Kennedy's still intact staff of advisers. Robert Kennedy
did not strongly advocate withdrawal from Vietnam until 1967, within a week of
Martin Luther King taking the same public stand. Consistent with President
Kennedy'sAlliance
for Progress, Robert Kennedy placed increasing emphasis on human
rights as a central focus of U.S. foreign policy.

In 1968, President
Johnson began to run for reelection. In January 1968, faced with what was
widely considered an unrealistic race against an incumbent President, Senator
Kennedy stated he would not seek the presidency.[75]After theTet Offensivein
Vietnam, in early February 1968, Kennedy received a letter from writerPete Hamill, that said that
poor people kept pictures of President Kennedy on their walls and that Robert
Kennedy had an "obligation of staying true to whatever it was that put
those pictures on those walls".[76]Kennedy
traveled toDelano,
California, to meet with civil rights activistCésar Chávezwho was
on a twenty-five day hunger strike showing his commitment tononviolence.[77]It was at
his visit in California where Kennedy decided he would challenge Johnson for
the presidency, telling his former DOJ press secretaryEdwin Guthman, that his
first step was to get little-known SenatorEugene McCarthyofMinnesota to withdraw from
the presidential race.[78]The weekend
before the New Hampshire primary, Kennedy announced to several aides that he
would attempt to persuade McCarthy to concede from the race to avoid splitting
the antiwar vote, but with the advice fromSouth Dakota SenatorGeorge McGovern, he urged
Kennedy to wait until after the primary to announce his candidacy.[75]Johnson won
a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary on March 12, 1968, against
McCarthy, which boosted McCarthy's standing in the race.[79]

After much
speculation and reports leaking out about his plans,[80]and seeing
in McCarthy's success that Johnson's hold on the job was not as strong as
originally thought, Kennedy declared his candidacy on March 16, 1968, in the
Caucus Room of the old Senate office building—the same room where his brother
declared his own candidacy eight years earlier.[81]He stated,
"I do not run for the Presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose
new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous
course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I
feel that I'm obliged to do all I can."[82]

McCarthy
supporters angrily denounced Kennedy as an opportunist, and thus the anti-war
movement was split between McCarthy and Kennedy.[83]On March
31, 1968, Johnson stunned the nation by dropping out of the race.[84]Vice
PresidentHubert
Humphrey, long a champion of labor unions and civil rights, entered
the race with the support of the party "establishment", including
most members of Congress, mayors, governors and labor unions.[85]He entered
the race too late to enter any primaries, but had the support of the president
and many Democratic insiders.[86]Robert
Kennedy, like his brother before him, planned to win the nomination through
popular support in the primaries.

Kennedy stood on a
platform of racial and economic justice, non-aggression in foreign policy,
decentralization of power and social improvement. A crucial element to his campaign
was an engagement with the young, whom he identified as being the future of a
reinvigorated American society based on partnership and equality. Kennedy's
policy objectives did not sit well with the business world, in which he was
viewed as something of a fiscal liability, opposed as they were to the tax
increases necessary to fund such programs of social improvement. At one of his
university speeches (Indiana University Medical School) he was asked,
"Where are we going to get the money to pay for all these new programs
you're proposing?" Kennedy replied to the medical students, about to enter
lucrative careers, "From you."[29][87]It was this
intense and frank mode of dialogue with which Kennedy was to continue to engage
those whom he viewed as not being traditional allies of Democratic ideals or
initiatives. He aroused raoffer animosity in some quarters, with J. Edgar
Hoover's DeputyClyde
Tolsonreported as saying, "I hope that someone shoots and
kills the son of a bitch."[88]

It has been widely
commented that Robert Kennedy's campaign for the American presidency far
outstripped, in its vision of social improvement, that of President Kennedy;
Robert Kennedy's offer for the presidency saw not only a continuation of the
programs he and his brother had undertaken during the President's term in
office, but also an extension of these programs through what Robert Kennedy
viewed as an honest questioning of the historic progress that had been made by
President Johnson in the 5 years of his presidency. Kennedy openly challenged
young people who supported the war while benefiting from draft deferments,
visited numerous small towns, and made himself available to the masses by
participating in long motorcades and street-corner stump speeches (often in
troubled inner-cities). Kennedy made urban poverty a chief concern of his
campaign, which in part led to enormous crowds that would attend his events in
poor urban areas or rural parts of Appalachia.

On April 4, 1968,
Kennedy learned of the assassination ofMartin
Luther King, Jr.and gave a heartfelt impromptu
city, in which Kennedy called for a reconciliation between the races.Riotsbroke out in 60
cities in the wake of King's death, but not in Indianapolis, a fact many
attribute to the effect of this speech.[89]

Kennedy finally
won theIndianaDemocratic
primary on May 7 and theNebraskaprimary
on May 14, but lost theOregonprimary
on May 28.[90]If he could
defeat McCarthy in the California primary, the leadership of the campaign
thought, he would knock McCarthy out of the race and set up a one-on-one
againstHubert
Humphrey(whom he bested in the primary held on the same day as
the California primary in Humphrey's birth state,South Dakota) at theChicago national conventionin August.

Kennedy scored a
major victory in winning the California primary. He addressed his supporters
shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in a ballroomatThe Ambassador HotelinLos Angeles,California. Leaving the
ballroom, he went through the hotel kitchen after being told it was a shortcut,[91]despite
being advised to avoid the kitchen by his bodyguard, FBI agent Bill Barry. In a
crowded kitchen passageway,Sirhan Sirhan, a
24-year-old Palestinian, opened fire with a.22-caliberrevolver. Kennedy was hit
three times and five other people also were wounded.[92]George Plimpton, formerdecathleteRafer Johnson, and former
professional football playerRosey Grierare
credited with wrestlingSirhan Sirhanto the
ground after Sirhan shot the Senator.[93]Following
the shooting, Kennedy was first rushed to Los Angeles's Central Receiving
Hospital and then to the city'sGood Samaritan Hospitalwhere he died
early the next morning.[94]Sirhan said
that he felt betrayed by Kennedy's support for Israel in the June 1967Six-Day War, which had
begun exactly one year before the assassination.[95]

His body was
returned to New York City, where itlay in reposeatSaint Patrick's Cathedralfrom approximately 10:00 PM
until 10:00 AM on June 8.[96]Ahigh requiem massattended
by members of the extended Kennedy family, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonand his
wifeLady
Bird Johnson, and members of the JohnsonCabinetwas held at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 10:00 AM
on June 8.[97]His brotherTedsaid the
following:

“

My brother need not be idealized, or
enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a
good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and
tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and
who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he
wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said
many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought
to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things
that never were and say why not.'[98]

The quote is a
paraphrase of a line spoken by thedevil(The Serpent) toEveinGeorge
Bernard Shaw'sBack
to Methuselah, "You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I
dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'"[99]

The requiem mass
concluded with the hymn "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", sung byAndy Williams.[100]Immediately
following the mass, Kennedy's body was transported by a special private train
to Washington, D.C. Thousands of mourners lined the tracks and stations along
the route, paying their respects as the train passed. The train departed New
York at 12:30 PM.[101]The
four-hour trip took more than eight hours due to the thick crowds lining the tracks
on the 225 miles (362km) journey.[102]When the
train arrived atElizabeth,
New Jersey, an eastbound train on a parallel track to the funeral
train hit and killed several spectators after they were unable to get off the
track in time even though the eastbound train's engineer had slowed to
30mph for the normally 55mph curve and had blown his horn
continuously and rang his bell through the curve.[103][104]Scheduled
to arrive at about 4:30 PM,[105][106]sticking
brakes on the casket-bearing car also contributed to delays,[103]and the
train arrived at 9:10 PM on June 8.[102]

Bobby was buriednear his brother, Jack, inArlington National CemeteryinArlington,
Virginia (just outside Washington, D.C.).[100]Bobby had
always maintained that he wished to be buried in Massachusetts, but his family
believed he should be interred in Arlington next to his brother.[107]TheNavy
BandplayedThe Navy Hymn.[104]The
procession passed theNew Senate Office Building(where Kennedy had his
offices), and the proceeded to theLincoln Memorialwhere
it paused. TheMarine
Corps BandplayedThe Battle Hymn of the Republic.[104]The
funeral motorcade arrived at the cemetery at 10:24 p.m. As it entered the
cemetery, people lining the roadway spontaneously lit candles to guide the
motorcade to the burial site.[104]The
15-minute ceremony began at 10:30 p.m.CardinalPatrick O'Boyle,Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington,
officiated at the graveside service in lieu of CardinalRichard Cushingof
Boston, who fell ill during the trip.[102]Also
officiating wasArchbishop of New YorkTerence Cooke.[104]John Glennpresented
the folded Flag on behalf of the United States to Senator Ted Kennedy, who
passed it to Bobby's eldest son Joe, who passed it to Ethel.[104]

Arlington National
Cemetery officials say that Bobby's burial was the only night burial to have
taken place at the cemetery.[108]However,
the burial ofPatrick
Bouvier Kennedy(the infant son ofJack, who died two days after
birth in August 1963) and Jack's stillborn daughter Arabella also occurred at
night. The two children were buried next to their father on December 5, 1963.[104]

On June 9,
PresidentLyndon
B. Johnsonassigned security staff to allU.S. presidential candidatesand declared
an officialnational
day of mourning. After the assassination, the mandate of theU.S. Secret Servicewas altered by Congress to include
Secret Service protection of U.S. presidential candidates.